2010 Free Agents - who do you think the Giants should go after?

Posey's bat >>>>>>>>>>>>> any free agent catcher bat aside from Benjie. I wouldn't mind throwing him in there. Especially if it means we can throw a little bit more around in free agency on pitching. LaRoche just signed with Arizona, 1 year 4-5 mil. I don't feel like we missed out on that much.

 

I'd love to see us throw some spare change at some older players looking for a good shot to succeed. Nady, Bedard, Branyan, Dye, Sheets, Endy Chavez, Pedro Martinez, Crede, Ankiel are all still out there with little reported interest. All could end up signing for very cheap and have a good shot to help the club.

 

Verious news:

- Freddy Sanchez gets shoulder surgery and may not be ready for opening day. Uribe signing already paying off.

- Jonathan Sanchez agrees to 1 year, $2.1 million deal to avoid arbitration.

- Brian Wilson signs 1 year, $4.4 million deal to avoid arbitration.

- Winn to Yankees. Johnny Damon screwed?

- Garko and Byrnes to Mariners.

- G's sign Byung-Hyun Kim and Horacio Ramirez to minor league contracts. Both have had success in the bigs but have taken time off.

Johnny Damon, Jermaine Dye, Erick Bedard are still floating around in free agency and the market seems to have dried up on them. Would love to get Bedard.

 

I was hoping the Giants could get Brian Giles. He's a gap hitter and still has a decent glove. He would have been a nice platoon player for this team, instead he signed with the Dodgers.

Johnny Damon would be a nightmare playing OF for us. The guy has no arm strength.

Bedard signed with the Mariners on a 1 year deal.

 

G's signed Todd Wellemeyer as a fringe 5th starter/long reliever/minor leaguer. Can't knock the move. Let him and Pucetas, Joe Martinez, etc. duke it out for the 5th roster spot. I reckon Madbum will be ready to come up by mid-season.

 

More miscellaneous news and notes:

- Frandsen traded to the Bo Sox for a player to be named later or cash. Good riddance. He and the Giants needed a break up in the worst way.

-Schulman reported (prior to Frandsen trade) that the G's are shopping Fred Lewis for a backup middle infielder who can play SS or 2B. Seems unnecessary. Renteria and Sanchez are both injury prone but with Uribe, DeRosa, Velez, Rohlinger on the 40 man squad I think we're ok. Don't think Fred would return anything more productive than what we already have. Aren't there some good FAs left? Why not waive him and try to get a vet on the cheap.

- Giants optioned Ford, Peguero, Pena, Guzman to minors.

- Brian Wilson was extended for two more years at pretty damn big money. 4.4 mil this coming season, then 6.5, then 8.5. Wasn't a terrible signing but it seems like overpaying and I'm weary of giving closers any long term deals. And this is coming from a Giants fan who tolerates Wilson quite well.

- Affeldt was also extended. 4.5 mil in 2011 and 5 mil in 2012. No complaints about this, the guy is money.

Bumgarner is going to AAA. Wellemeyer and Pucetas both pitching solidly in spring training I believe. I'm reading that Wellemeyer has the edge right now for the 5th spot.

 

More news:

- Matt Cain has been extended. He'll earn $4.5 million this season, 7 mils in 2011, and 15 mils in 2012. (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2010/news/story?id=5037457)

- Due to Schierholtz struggles at the plate and Bowker's mashing the ball thus far in spring training, the G's are considering starting Bowker in LF and moving DeRosa to RF. I read that DeRosa's best defensive position is actually RF and it seems like hes actually considered a pretty solid defender all around. Wouldn't be opposed to this at all, especially if Bowker continues to hit well. I think DeRosa could handle RF at AT&T pretty well though it would be nice to have schierholtz' speed and arm out there.

- Lewis is a leading candidate to be traded for a bucket of popcorn or waived. Hes out of minor league options.

 

http://www.mercurynews.com/giants/ci_14767626?source=rss&nclick_check=1

This is a stupid move IMO. Love that his bat is MLB ready but if his future is at C we need him to get a lot more work calling games. He won't get that here unless Molina is injured. Plus I bet they keep Whiteside on the big league roster. What's perhaps the most annoying part to me is that if we're going to use Posey as a catcher plus part-time infielder then why first base? Obviously its the easiest to play but wasn't this guy a former short stop? Hes got a great bat but its not a 1B bat with a ton of power right? I don't know why he can't platoon as a backup 2B/3B. In the immediate sense it makes more sense for him to back up Huff at 1B where we don't have good depth but you have to think long term with this kid IMO.

I guess asking him to learn catcher and be a backup 2B or 3B could be asking quite a lot physically. Just don't think its practical to have him learn 1B as his secondary position when hes probably quite capable of playing 2B or even 3B quite well.

 

I'm totally for sending him to AAA just to get him more time calling games. I'm glad we did exactly that with him. Like I thought before though they did end up keeping Whiteside on the squad I believe so I have a hard time believing that they would ever call Posey up to catch games when Molina needs a break. Unless Molina gets injured I doubt we see much of Posey behind the dish in the big leagues. Whiteside is so good at calling games and reliable behind the plate that it makes up for his lack of offense. Especially if we're in a playoff race and wins are key I can't see Bochy favoring Posey over Whiteside.

 

Didn't Penny sign a pretty big deal with the Cards? I wouldn't want to be paying a 5th starter as much as he got. Hes pretty damn good at AT&T but I would think it wouldn't be hard to find a back end pitcher on the cheap who could also do well in SF. Wellemeyer has been terrible thus far. Maybe we bring Joe Martinez back up soon?